THEATRE POPULAIRE IDEA(L) Wogodogo Theatre - in Burkina Faso

UACS | University American College Skopje

Project idea

The idea of this project was to become a place where there would be enough shade for everyone. The place where you can hide from the relentless bright sun. Labo + Show buildings are located as pavilions with internal corridors and visible door openings so that the air inside the facilities is reasonably cooler as well, the roofs are covered with Ceiling wood thin branch beam, and stone facade , while the part of the show is the same built by these materials with an auxiliary terrace for the actresses. The main idea of the project was to do something more functional and creative.

Project description

The theme of the study is the revitalization of an unused amphitheater in Ouagadougou – the capital of Burkina Faso. La Termitiere complex now consists of some buildings which are not suitable for all the activities they want to follow. The complex has 2 main buildings. The first is building is Labo+Show. This building is passing all trees and makes its forest of bamboo stanchions. In fact, this building is made of 4 other buildings. These four buildings had one common roof which makes the spaces between them shaded and pleasing. Through one of these spaces leads the main entrance for visitors. The entrance is a little bit more on the north than before so on the south where the entrance used to be, is now more space for visitors to park. Pavilion of Labo+Show consists of 8 classrooms – 4 main classrooms have 150 m2 and are meant for teaching theatre, music, dance, and circus. The other 4 smaller rooms are photographic studio, recording studio, editing video, and media classroom. There are sanitary facilities part belonging to this instructional pavilion. Pavilion of Show. The building takes place where was the original amphitheater. The building hugs the audience by its two wings. The west wing is technical. The east wing is a background for actors. In the middle is a stage and below the stage are sanitary facilities for performers .

Technical information

In this Project the bio environmental conditions have prevailed over design decisions; basically, the architecture is adapted to the climate and not the other way round. In this location of pre-cordilleran mountains , weather conditions are extreme, vegetation and rain are scarce and there is a great variation in temperature between night and day. During daytime particularly, solar radiation is very intense. Therefore we developed a compact building surrounding a courtyard (patio), which in a small scale stands for the square at the urban level, i.e. a social and community gathering place typical of northwestern villages. The courtyard is a sheltered area where the vegetation and shadows freshen the air that also extends to the surrounding rooms. The style is respectful of the local architecture, blending with existing buildings. It also allows for the use of local hands (workers) during its construction. Modern technology (Trombe walls and solar panels) has been used to enhance local technology (stone walls, adobes and mud blocks in the roofs) in order to better respond to the prevailing climate, thus achieving a building that stores the days´heat to mitigate the sharp decrease in temperature that takes place at night.

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